Harry Potter and the Legacy of ReHerakhty
by incongruous irrelevance
Summary: The night began as any other, no one would expect anything strange or mysterious to happen in this quaint little town. But Voldemort had other ideas... though life has a way of altering even the most carefully laid plans...
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: The novel Harry Potter, nor any of the characters or ideas pertaining to it belong to me; they are the sole property of the one and only J.K. Rowling.**

A/N: This is my first attempt at fanfic, so please be kind. I am sure my ideas have probably been done before, and if there is some resemblance to anyone else's stories, I apologise it was most unintentionally done. I have no beta, so any mistake here is mine alone. Please read and review – It makes me feel special… Anyway on with the show.

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**Prologue**

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In a small little town known as Godric's Hollow lay a small little house; though despite it's undeniable presence, it was not visible to just anybody, as this very house was under the Fidelius Charm. Its present occupants were currently in a peaceful slumber, blissfully ignorant of the direction their lives would soon take.

"Good morning love" the man with the messy raven black hair said to his wife as they slowly awoke to the soft rays of the early morning sun. Before his beloved wife had a chance to reply, they were both rapidly awoken from their sleepy state by the loud cries of a young boy, of almost one year of age, who was none other than their baby son, Harry James Potter. Although it is not typically an unusual occurrence for a baby to scream and wail, for the Potters it was rather out of the ordinary. Harry was always a very well behaved child, most definitely a trait inherited from his mother. It so happens that Harry Potter's favourite Quidditch mobile had stopped turning, and so it was assumed that this was the reason for the unnatural disturbance.

The day continued as usual, or as usual as can be when one has gone into hiding, with the minor exceptions of a certain young boy who was noticeably more disgruntled than usual and his mother, Lily Potter who seemed quite agitated. Lily Potter was indeed rather fidgety as she was attempting to find the words to tell her husband some news of a rather important nature, but did not quite know how.

Though James Potter was as usual quite oblivious to the inner workings of his wife's head, he did however notice how irritable his son was as he observed him over the top of the newspaper he had been reading. As such, James made an attempt to calm him by holding him and bouncing him up and down. As this particular method did not seem to work as it usually did, James sought the council of his wife "Lily" he said, "Do you think there might be something wrong with Harry? He's been acting oddly all morning".

Instantly putting aside her previous musings as she snapped into mothering mode she quickly began examining Harry, attempting to ascertain whether there was any sign of sickness in her young son. She determined after many minutes that there did not seem to be anything wrong with him and said as much, "maybe he's just worn out" James suggested, "perhaps" she murmured as she pursed her lips together in thought "although I don't know why he would, he isn't usually tired at this time of day, it seems a bit odd, though perhaps I am just over thinking things as usual, you know me, the constant worry-wart". To this James replied "Too true" and was promptly whacked over the head by his wife in response to his comment.

"I'll take him up for a nap then, and hopefully he will be better by dinner"

Reassured that everything seemed fine James returned to The Daily Prophet, and resumed his reading. He proceeded thus until one particular article caught his eye, he re-read the article multiple times to make sure he was reading correctly and let out a strangled cry, the words bringing tears to his eyes.

Lily, hearing her husband's cry became worried and turned, leaving her son whom she had just laid down; consequently she didn't see Harry's mobile begin to move seemingly of its own accord nor did she see the troubled look in her son's emerald eyes.

**-----**

As Lily scanned the paper, she let out a scoff and rolled her eyes, "James, I hardly think your team losing a Quidditch match is deserving of such a reaction and besides, this paper is a couple of weeks old, a lot could have changed since then" she said as she stared up at him.

"Lily..." he managed to stammer out "turn the paper over"

Giving him an in inquiring look, she complied, and her eyes widened with alarm as she beheld the ghastly photo of their best friends, Frank and Alice Longbottom, their eyes seeming hollow and blank. Beside the photo lay an article entitled "Two of our best Aurors ruthlessly tortured by Voldemort's forces – Who will be next?" She scanned through the article as quickly as she could, but as she reached the end she found that she had comprehended naught of it. As she read again, more slowly this time, she was finally confronted with the horrifying truth. In shock Lily let the paper fall to the floor, and was quickly enveloped in her husband's arms as she broke down, muttering "it can't be true" over and over again as the tears fell from her eyes in a never ending stream.

**-----**

"WORMTAIL!" his master yelled as a shivering lump appeared in front of him, "I DEMAND YOU TELL ME THE LOCATION NOW!" Voldemort's voice was steadily rising as his irritation increased.

"Yes M...M...Master", Wormtail hesitated as a slight guilt began to eat away at him, to betray the only friends he had ever known was a huge sacrifice on his part; but as he looked up timidly at his master and beheld the fury evident on Lord Voldemort's imposing face, he quickly determined that betrayal was perhaps the wisest course of action if the wished to preserve his miserable life.

"Yes Master" he said with considerably more composure, "I will tell you, I do not wish to fail you my Lord" and the man who quite obviously was lacking a backbone rapidly informed his Maser of that which he wished to know. With this development, the Dark Lord's face which moments before was contorted in a look of absolute fury, had now formed a haunting smirk, and, for Wormtail it was difficult to determine which was more frightening. So with a hastily contrived bow, the rat scampered away as fast as he was able, to hide away until he was again required by his master.

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As Lily awoke and lifted her head form the cosy nook of her husband's arm, she felt a faint hope that what she had experienced had all been a dream; but as she looked over and beheld the paper sitting on the floor, the tears began to fall anew. It was worse than a nightmare. It was reality.

The silence that permeated the house however was quickly broken by an ear-piercing screech, which was enough to wake even James, after a moment of confusion to her sleep-clogged brain she realised it must have been Harry, Lily was really starting to worry about him.

Lily Potter's worry would rapidly increase as she walked into her son's room; Harry had propped himself up in his bed and was staring into space, his eyes were misted over, and his body seemed to be exuding power. Harry slowly stood as everything in his room began to swirl around him he muttered three words with such force Lily took a step back, "WANT DADDY NOW" and with that he promptly disappeared, leaving Lily standing alone in his room looking bewildered. Lily was rapidly broken out of her stupor as she heard James yell "LILY WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH HARRY?!"

As Lily bolted down the stairs she was confronted by her husband who was standing in the front hall staring disbelievingly at their oblivious son. As Lily reached James they shared identical looks of confusion mixed with worry and a hint of fear, as they tried to comprehend the actions of their son. Harry was indeed in a most peculiar pose, with his hands flat on the ground, still staring into space, he appeared to be in deep concentration. His parent's fear multiplied as a golden coloured mist exuded from their son's fingertips and trailed along the floor until it reached the soles of their feet, in alarm they tried to move away, but found they were stuck, they could not move a muscle as the mist continued to slowly envelop them. The mist then completely consumed Harry before exuding a final bright burst of light and disappearing from sight, though the Potter's still could not move.

At this moment the door of their house burst inwards, showering Harry with splinters and debris, some even drawing blood, but he did not appear to notice. In swarmed the Dark Lord's followers, surrounding both Harry and his parents, the majority initially assuming a position to attack what they perceived to be the most formidable threat... Lily and James Potter. Upon discovering the Potter's were unarmed and that they appeared not inclined to react, the Death Eaters crowed over their victory and awaited the entrance of their master. Lord Voldemort finally emerged through the decimated doorway, that same sinister smirk still present on his face, "Well, well, well, the Potter's who would have thought Dumbledore's closest followers would ever be at my… mercy" he paused and cackled evilly. Perceiving then the defiant look in both their eyes his patience quickly wore thin, as his lips began to purse in anger he said "Bow down to me and I may even consider making you deaths reasonably painless... BOW DOWN TO ME NOW!" Seeing both the Potters still standing motionless, Voldemort rapidly grew tired of his game and decided to dispose of his latest toys.

Voldemort, consumed as he was with securing his glory, paid very little attention to the small boy crouched on the ground as he entered, nor during the above speech did he perceive his followers rapidly begin to fall to the ground bound, gagged and unconscious. So focused was he on his power over the elder Potter's, he had quite forgotten his reason for being there.

Raising his wand, Voldemort aimed at Lily Potter, as he resumed taunting James "Potter you stupid fool, this is what comes of marrying a mudblood, now watch as she dies before your eyes". The Dark Lord was rather amused now, he had finally elicited some reaction in the eyes of James Potter; a mixture of emotions was burning there, that of hatred for the man who held the wand and an expression directed towards Lily, one Voldemort couldn't comprehend, that of love. With glee the Dark Lord spoke the deadly curse "Avada Kedavra".

What happened next caused confusion in the minds of three people, the other person in the room looked completely unconcerned, while the rest were quite oblivious to it all, as they lay unconscious. As the curse came hurtling towards Lily Potter it began to disintegrate, completely fizzling out before it reached her.

Angered and bewildered Voldemort yelled in rage, casting the curse over and over again, but it would not reach her, she would not die. Harry Potter, who now appeared to be struggling with something, and looked quite weakened if you looked close enough, lost his footing and stumbled backwards as he tripped over a piece of debris, thus drawing the Dark Lord's attention.

Voldemort, changing tactics, decided to go after easier prey; he aimed his wand at the young boy, but something was wrong, there was no fear in the boy's eyes. Voldemort concluded that the boy must be stupid, _everybody _feared him! Reassured with himself he raised his wand to deliver the final blow, but the same thing happened, the curse seemed to just dissolve.

Angered beyond all reason now that his favourite curse had failed him, he stood fuming and resolved to blow something up, just to relieve some of his anger so he could think with more composure.

Up until this point Voldemort was quite oblivious as to the state of his loyal followers; turning around now however and observing his army's incapacitated state brought something to the Dark Lord's eyes that had not been seen there in quite some time. Fear.

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A young man at this time running through the door caught the Dark Lord's attention; Voldemort, naturally assuming this young man was the cause of all his recent troubles, fired the killing curse at the lone figure.

It so happens that this was how a certain Sirius Black found himself on the deadly end of the Avada Kedavra curse and all Lily and James could do was watch.

Unluckily for Voldemort, though perhaps we should say luckily for Sirius, the Dark Lord underestimated Harry Potter.

A piece of door was conveniently flung in the path of the deadly curse, and showered Sirius with some rather large chunks of debris, which became lodged in his stomach. Buckled over in pain Sirius fell to the floor. This particular event caused Harry's concentration to momentarily lapse and because of this moment of uncertainty his shields weakened slightly. Voldemort had in fact noticed the young boy's movements, and for the first time he began to get a suspicion of the truth, that the boy was the culprit of his recent failures. The Dark Lord sensed his opportunity, as he saw the boy falter, so he aimed the killing curse again and this time it found its mark.

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As the curse reached his skin, Harry put all the power he had left into his shield, causing the curse to rebound into Voldemort's unsuspecting face. They fell to the floor as one.

The shields surrounding Lily and James cracked with the force of the shock wave and they were flung against the stairs; the last sight they saw was Sirius crawling towards their son before losing their fight against unconsciousness.

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A/N: okay so that was quite dodgy and slow, but I promise it will get better (well at least I hope it will). Please remember to review. Please read the next chapter entitled... "Dump Galore Hesham Bake"


	2. Dump Galore Hesham Bake

**Disclaimer: The novel Harry Potter, nor any of the characters or ideas pertaining to it belong to me, they are the sole property of the one and only J.K. Rowling.**

**A/N: Sorry to my readers for the time it took me to update, you see I am in the middle of my final exams and as such have been madly studying. My exams won't end for about another two weeks, but my updates should be a lot more frequent after this time. Anyway a big thankyou to those people who took the time to read it and a special thanks to those who both read _and _reviewed:- Aussie Rose, wolfawaken, Sony13 and athenakitty.**

**As to the concerns expressed in the reviews, don't worry too much I don't like it when characters die, so there is only a small chance that I will kill some characters off. As to the rest of the questions, well you will just have to wait and see, won't you?**

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**Chapter One – Dump Galore Hesham Bake?**

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James awoke to a strange feeling of deja vu; he thought he had been there before, but with the blurry picture he was presented with due to the absence of his glasses he could not be sure. He made a movement to reach over and grab his glasses, in the process he was quickly and painfully made aware of exactly where he was – a hospital. With a groan he slowly lowered his arm back to his side as he rubbed his aching ribs; an action which soon caught the notice of a man who had been keeping a constant vigil over his bed for the last fourteen hours.

The man yelled out something that sounded to James like "DUMP GALORE, HESHAM BAKE!". As this made no sense to James he opened his eyes to glare at the person who was making the infernal racket; after doing this for a little while he began to make out the form of said person, to his surprise it was a person he was quite sure he would recognise anywhere. Sirius Black.

To the people who had not sustained a serious head injury, what Sirius had in fact said was "Dumbledore, James is awake" As James was thinking over his current predicament, the healer attending him was quickly called. As she reached him she propped the bed up slightly, at the same time asking "Mr Potter, can you hear me?". All of this was done at such a rapid pace that Sirius, whose eyes had been following the nurse since she entered, began to feel dizzy and as such decided it would be wise to stop ogling the woman.

To the nurse's question James' only reply was a muffled groan that sounded vaguely like "Wha?" The nurse nodded to herself as if this proved something to her before grabbing one of the vast arrays of potions she had lined up and rapidly poured it down James' throat. This particular potion caused him to splutter a bit before he resumed his incoherent mutterings; the nurse merely nodded to herself again before she poured another concoction; this process continued until they heard James mutter a coherent "O Merlin, I hope the other guy looks worse!"

"Indeed he does" answered Sirius, happy to have his friend back. This appeared to trigger some kind of memory in James as he suddenly sat bolt upright, causing the blood to fall rapidly from his head to his feet, his face in moments as white as a sheet.

This naturally caused the nurse to shriek in alarm, "Mr Potter lie back down this instant, you are not yet ready to get up!"

James, ignoring the woman's protests tentatively got to his feet as Sirius rushed to his side and tried to get him to lie back down. James grasped Sirius' shoulder, staring at him with imploring eyes James whispered "Lily and Harry... where are they?"

Sirius, knowing James well, realised they would not get his friend to rest until he had seen for himself the fate of his wife and child. Thus Sirius assisted him to the neighbouring room where Lily and Harry lay.

"HOW ARE THEY?" James demanded of the healer attending them "are they alive?" he murmured more quietly as the healer came out into the hall to see what all the ruckus was about. Quickly comprehending the reason behind this man's state, the healer reassured James, saying "Sir your family is fine, your son and wife are resting peacefully, and we expect them to wake up some time in the next few hours" he paused "though we were worried your wife was going to lose the baby she was carrying for a while, though they have both now returned to a stable condition"

The dizziness finally catching up to him, James lost consciousness once again while muttering "baby, what baby?" Unfortunately for James, Sirius was still in a state of shock over the news of a baby, added to the fact that had not entirely recovered from his ordeal and as such lost his hold on James' shoulder. James consequently slumped to the floor with a rather large thud.

Dumbledore emerged from the doorway where he had been observing the commotion, and said to the healer with a twinkle in his eye, "perhaps it would be best if we moved him into the same room as his family" and with that he conjured a hospital bed and spoke the word "Mobilicorpus" as he levitated James to his new bed.

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James awoke many hours later under the scrutiny of his wife's worried eyes as she directed her gaze between her immobile husband and son. She let out a surprised squeal as she heard her husband murmur her name.

"James" she whispered back; somewhat reassured now that her husband was awake, she rested her eyes from the perusal of their son.

"Lily, you're pregnant?" James asked in confusion.

"James I..." she started as the nurse walked in; Lily paused considering waiting until the nurse left, but misinterpreting the look on James' face as one of anger she pressed on "I meant to tell you, I just didn't know how and besides I only knew for sure the day before we were attacked...". Lily's voice cracked as she recalled what had happened and her anxious gaze returned to the form of her son.

She was quickly brought out of her pensive reverie by James "Lily, it's okay, I'm not angry with you, just surprised is all ... well we seem to be expanding our family quicker than we thought" he chuckled.

"So you are fine with this are you?" Lily asked, still worried.

"Fine?" James beamed "Lily, I'm ecstatic!" though his smile lessened considerably as his eyes fell on his sleeping son. "Lily, have they said anything about how Harry is doing?"

"They said he should wake up in the next few hours" Lily replied as James attempted to get up "James!" she scolded, "you know you shouldn't get up yet".

"I'm fine!" James retorted somewhat childishly, though was soon forced to agree as the room began to spin around him. "OK, so maybe that wasn't the best idea" he said as he cradled his pounding head in his hands.

Sirius came into the room in time to hear his last comment and guessing the reason for it said teasingly "Prongsie, didn't you learn from last time not to get up?" though all James could manage in retort was a loud groan.

"LAST TIME?" Lily Potter's voice rose alarmingly, "what do you mean 'last time'?"

"Ooh somebody's in trouble" Sirius taunted.

"Sirius!" Lily said warningly.

"Well you see dear Prongsie here jumped out of his bed, against the direct orders of the healer, straight after ingesting a cocktail of potions, to come and find you and Harry." Sirius reported, duly chastised.

Lily's eyes softened upon hearing Sirius' explanation, and in the end could only manage a half-hearted admonition of "James!" to which he grinned and shrugged sheepishly. James, as he had gained back some of his equilibrium, then proceeded to his wife's bed. When he reached Lily he drew her into a soft hug and kiss.

As Sirius turned his eyes from their moment, his gaze fell on the sleeping boy and a sudden seriousness came over him, with a gravity that was not often present in this particular young man. "I thought I'd lost you there for a while; I don't suppose you know the details of what happened that night, and I think it best we do not discuss anything while we are here. But one thing you must know, Peter betrayed you willingly, he betrayed all of us, he was a spy for Voldemort." Sirius turned to his two friends as they let out simultaneous gasps of surprise and shock.

Sirius' voice cracked with emotion as he continued "I went to visit him that night, just to check up on him, but when I got there I found him cowering in a corner. It took me an hour or so to finally get it out of him what he had done, you can imagine how I felt at that point, I wanted to kill him, but I wanted to find you as quickly as I could. I bound the rat up and called the Order before leaving for Godric's Hollow in a blind rage. When I saw Voldemort standing over Harry, I really thought I'd lost you all" he said as a lone tear ran its way down his cheek. He soon felt the pressure of a hand squeezing his shoulder in a comforting gesture, and he slowly turned and captured James in a bear hug. After a while Sirius said in a stage whisper to James "Prongs, if we hug much longer Lily might have to start worrying about your sexual orientation" with a roll of his eyes James pushed Sirius away "no way Padfoot, you're not pretty enough for me" he replied, knowing full well that Sirius was just trying to get their attention away from his emotional outburst.

James, starting to feel dizzy again moved over near Harry's bed and sunk down in a nearby seat. His wife soon moved off her bed, gave Sirius a quick hug and sat down next to her husband while Sirius took the seat opposite as they waited and watched as Harry continued to lie motionless.

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Dumbledore, who was standing in the doorway, observed the scene with a heavy heart, knowing that soon the Potters would come to him for answers, and he would have to tell them the truth, a truth he knew they would not like to hear.

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**A/N: Mwahaha. So, what did you all think? Hope you all liked it! Though perhaps I should point out now that this will probably be quite AU, because some parts in cannon I don't like, and others don't fit with my story, so don't flame me if some ideas, characters and theories aren't quite the same. Oh and by the way this story will definitely be Harry/Hermione, with a little bit of James/Lily thrown in. There will most certainly be other ships thrown in as well, but if I told you who I'd ruin the story, wouldn't I?**

**Please review and tune in next time for the next instalment...**

"Hezakiah and Life's Little Wonders" 


	3. Hezakiah and Life's Little Wonders

**Disclaimer: The novel Harry Potter, nor any of the characters or ideas pertaining to it belong to me, they are the sole property of the one and only J.K. Rowling.**

Okay I'm really sorry that this took so long, this chapter has been sitting in my computer for a long time now, but I got rather angry at it and felt it wasn't very good, in the end I re-read it and just decided to go with it.

Anyway should actually update soon, as these chapters are less time consuming to write and read over than my other story as they are considerably shorter.

As always thanks goes out to all those who read my crazy ramblings.

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Chapter Two – Hezakiah & Life's Little Wonders 

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Harry however proved the healer's prediction wrong. He was still unconscious twenty-four hours after he was supposed to awaken and his family was really starting to worry. None of the healers could explain the reason behind it and were now conducting every test known to wizard-kind on Harry.

James, Lily and Sirius had moved very little from their positions beside Harry's bed, they even conjured some recliners so they could sleep there, though sleep wouldn't find them.

Remus came in early the next morning looking exhausted, warn and worried, though it was at least two weeks until the full moon.

"Moony, what's wrong?" James asked in concern.

"I've had a hell of a time... taking care of _your _fan club" he answered as he sank down into a nearby chair, rested his head back and closed his eyes.

"What do you mean?" James asked rather confused.

"You mean you don't know?" he asked as he squinted one eye open.

"No?!" James said, starting to get irritated with the distinct lack of answers from Remus, so he glared at Sirius instead.

"Don't look at me! I've been with you the whole time!" Sirius answered defensively.

With a lopsided grin Remus said "the Potters have become instant celebrities – if you don't believe me take a look at the news crews outside that window. Crowd control has been hell, Dumbledore's got the entire Order down there; but there is a momentary lull at present, though it won't last for long". Remus stared bemusedly at the faces around him and sighed "Which reminds me, I better get back down there or we may have a stampede on our hands". He turned to Harry and gave him a quick kiss on the forehead with a muffled "wake up soon Cub". Remus then gave Sirius' shoulder a quick squeeze before walking round the hospital bed to Lily and James, enveloping them in a hug with a soft exclamation "I'm so glad you guys are alright, I was so worried" they both patted him on the back before he turned and quickly strode from the room.

James rose and stretched before making his way to the window to confirm Remus' reports and what he saw shocked him. "Lily…" he said with his mouth gaping "Lily, I think you better come here."

"Oh dear, not good" she murmured as she reached him "not good at all". They sighed as they stood hand in hand and beheld the massive crowd that awaited them.

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The stood there for Merlin knows how long in a deep contemplative silence, pondering over what had happened and what this would mean for them in the future. They were finally disrupted from their musings by a happy squeak from Sirius. "Lily, James I think he's waking up!"

As Harry's parents rushed to his bedside they saw one of the happiest sights of their lives, their son's eyes opening. Harry looked around him seeing Sirius first and smiling before turning to his parents, holding out he arms saying "Up?"

Sirius finally felt relieved after the innumerable hours of suspense, and rushed to find the healer that had been assigned to them, quickly finding her he dragged her into the Potter's room. They found the Potters hugging their son tightly with tears streaming down their cheeks.

The Potters regretfully released him as the nurse began examining the boy; after many minutes she sighed and said "he seems to be in perfect health, though I would like further tests to be conducted, as I'm still not entirely sure what caused all of this." With this she turned to walk away, but then thought better of it and turned to Lily "Mrs Potter, you really aught to get some rest, you have to be careful not to overdo yourself in your condition, especially after the last few days" she said as she smiled. The healer then frowned before continuing "and please let me be the first to thank you and your family on behalf of the Wizarding world for all that you and your family have done, though I do not know the particulars, you have made our world a better place" she smiled again and scuttled quickly out the door.

The people remaining in the room shared bemused looks before their attention was quickly taken again by Harry; they found he was once again asleep, though he had a much more peaceful expression on his face.

James turned to his wife and said "The healer was right my love, you should get to bed, If he wakes up again I will wake you" he smiled as his wife protested loudly when he physically directed her to bed. Lily did indeed feel quite tired, though she would never admit it, the emotional strain of the past couple of days had really taken it's tole on her. With the added strain of her new pregnancy, she fell asleep almost as soon as her head hit the pillow.

His attention was soon caught by a deep yawn from the other side of the room, and for the first time noticed the worn expression on Sirius' face. Smiling he said "Padfoot, you look like you haven't slept in a week" then adding as he realised "and you probably haven't either. Take my bed, I want to sit with Harry" Sirius merely nodded and got up with a groan. With one last smile towards his godson he slumped over onto James' bed and fell asleep even faster than Lily, if that were possible.

James smiled to himself as he stroked his son's hair thinking of his wife, his son and their unborn child before he lent back on his chair and rested his wearying eyes.

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James awoke the next morning to find none other than Albus Dumbledore sitting opposite him. Rather groggily he asked "Albus, when did you get here?"

Dumbledore answered with a smile "I have been here all along my boy, I have been attempting crowd control with the Order out there, I think we have finally removed as many as possible, in the end we had to resort to some rather interesting measures" he said as his trademark twinkle returned to his eye "an idea provided by your friend Remus actually". Amused, James thought to himself 'I definitely have to ask Moony about that some day'.

The twinkle in Dumbledore's eyes quickly disappeared once more as he said, "My boy there is much we must talk about though it is not safe to do so here, when are you going to be released?"

"Sometime today most probably" James replied with gravity.

"Then I shall return later today and take you someplace safe" he got up to leave before turning around and adding "and James I do believe congratulations is in order" he smiled as he stared between Lily and James.

Catching his hint James replied "yes indeed they are, thank you Albus" his expression widened into a full-blown smile while he was inwardly wondering at how all-knowing this man seemed to be.

"With all I've seen of the world pregnancy is something that still amazes me and gives me hope, that even during a war, a time of chaos and destruction, something so innocent and perfect can still be born into this world" he smiled as he shook his head as he turned muttering "amazing…" again as he left.

James smirked and shook his head at the absurdities of his mentor before his eyes rested on his sleeping wife. He smiled as he thought to himself "she's so beautiful, I can't believe she picked me" he shook his head and chuckled "how is it possible that I fall in love with her more every day that I'm with her?" he asked himself. His smile grew even wider if that were possible as his gaze found her stomach, and his musings took him to the child currently residing in her belly. With fondness he thought on what was to come, the morning sickness that lasted all day, the mood swings, the cravings at all hours of the night, he definitely wouldn't give that up for all the world. His mind took him back to the single most important event in his life, although it was a close tie with his wedding; the event at which Lily yelled at and abused him more than any other time, even all the days at Hogwarts put together could not add up to the amount of abuse he suffered that day, but still he treasured it above all – he got the one thing he loved most in this life - Harry. "Oh yes I'll have that to look forward to!" he muttered to himself as he pictured holding a new child in his arms.

His musings were interrupted by the little boy at his side as he loudly said "Daddy!" before jumping on his unsuspecting father and giving him a large hug. After hugging his son for a while and reassuring himself that Harry was indeed alright, he remembered his promise to his wife to wake her when Harry woke up. Instead of getting up to do this however his eyes took on a rather mischievous glint as he looked at Sirius. He whispered to his son "how about we go wake up Uncle Sirius?" Harry looked up at his father with wide eyes, though not entirely comprehending he nodded. As James walked over to the bed with Harry in his arms he whispered "now on the count of three we jump on him" as he placed Harry on the bed lightly he began his countdown "Ready…" he whispered as he held Harry up "one… two… three!" and with that he let Harry go who promptly landed tummy first on Sirius's chest. Sirius let out a squeal before noticing it was in fact Harry that had landed on him, while James stood behind him chortling.

He gave his godson a quick hug while saying "cheeky brat, just like your dad" at which point Harry was reduced to a fit of giggles that sounded every bit like his father, but Sirius didn't think he could have understood his comment and so was rather confused as to what caused this particular round of laughing. As Sirius sat up with his godson in his lap, he rubbed his chest and said in a false grumpy voice "Padfoot why did you make him do that for?"

James answered rather smugly "I had to wake Lily up and it wouldn't be anywhere near as amusing if I had done it in a conventional way"

"Yes, thankyou Sirius for the wakeup squeal, and I quite agree, much more amusing" Lily giggled at Sirius as he pouted at her choice of words. For Lily had indeed woken up as her husband had intended, though she rolled her eyes at her husband and son's antics muttering something that sounded suspiciously like "like father, like son".

"I did not squeal thank you very much; it was a manly shout of alarm!" Unfortunately for Sirius, Harry had learned a new word at rather an inconvenient time, saying loudly "squeal!" This earnt a large bout of laughter from the Potters while Sirius merely pouted and let out an indignant "Hmph!" he then began to tickle his nephew to death before his prisoner was rescued by his father.

As Sirius went to try to flirt with someone so he could get some breakfast, James brought his son over to say hello to his mother. As Harry was being cradled by Lily, she said to James, "I've been thinking, I want to go see Frank and Alice, the article in the Daily Prophet said they were here" she said as a few tears rolled down her face "I want to go see for myself whether it is true"

"Ok love, I know what you mean" he said giving her a half hug "I'll go find someone and see if it is okay" he bent down and gave her a swift kiss as he ruffled his son's hair "I'll be back soon" he murmured as he walked out the door.

-----

To the surprise of his wife, James came back about half an hour later, his arms laden with food. After dumping his stash onto her bed James spoke, "the healer said he'd send someone up with us in an hour or two, though he wasn't very happy about doing so" he shook his head and took a deep breath "but in the meantime I've brought us some breakfast!"

"But it's too early for breakfast, how on earth did you get it?" Lily asked questioningly

James waggled his eyebrows in a roguish manner before saying, with a large amount of flair "I found Sirius and gallantly assisted him in his endeavour to flirt with some charming nurses who then procured this food for us."

"You didn't!" Lily said, halfway between shock and amusement.

"Okay, so maybe not" James laughed "I did find Sirius and decided to help him with his efforts in finding food, apparently the nurses were all horrible old biddies that Sirius couldn't bear to flirt with, or so Sirius tells me, I think it much more likely that the women were much more intelligent than him, and wouldn't fall for his charm" his eyes crinkled smilingly "so we then went in search of the kitchen, hoping to pilfer some food, instead we met the house elves… and Sirius' charm worked on them…" he chuckled "when you think about it, it is slightly ironic that Sirius can attract creatures that aren't human, but he can't attract females…"

"Hey!" Sirius interjected with his mouth full, he came through the door to hear James' last comment, "I take offence to that, however too busy eating to have a comeback!" His arms were indeed full of food which he dropped unceremoniously down on James' bed, before jumping on it himself and stuffing his face full of food.

Lily and James contented themselves with the food they had, watching Sirius eat made them quite a bit less hungry than they were when they started. To avoid watching the rather gruesome display, they found amusement in James' attempts to feed Harry by levitating the spoon laden with food to his son's mouth. More often than not his attempts backfired as Harry would hit the end of the spoon, causing the contents to fly all over the room. James himself even got hit quite a few times, which caused no end of amusement to Harry, though James did not appreciate it particularly.

After Sirius had consumed all his food, and even some of James' which he pilfered off his plate, he decided he needed to walk off some of what he'd eaten, and then maybe return via the kitchens for some more food. This time however he swiftly picked Harry up off his mum's bed saying to him as he went "come squirt let's go for a walk…" and he scampered away as quickly as he could, before Lily had a chance to object. Unfortunately Sirius was not quite that nimble.

As Sirius was walking out the door Lily yelled out to him "Sirius Black don't you dare use _my_ son to assist you in your flirtatious endeavours!"

Sirius' head popped back round the door, though he made sure he was as well covered as possible "Why Lily I'm insulted that you think I would ever need his help in such pursuits!" he held his hand over his heart in a rather over dramatic manner. "But now you mention it, that is a very good idea, thank you Lily" he gave her a self-indulgent smirk before strategically retreating. Lily _was_ looking particularly irritated, and Sirius was not in the mood to be hexed into oblivion.

Sirius had completely disappeared by the time Lily had formulated a reply to his particularly infuriating comment so she merely rolled her eyes and said "your friend is going to be the death of me one of these days! Well, either that or I'm going to strangle him."

She quickly sobered when she realised what she had said, as she rapidly recalled just how close her family _did_ come to dieing. "James" she said quietly as tears once again threatened to fall down her petite face "I just don't understand… what happened? I'm so confused. How is it that we are still alive, and Harry, I don't even know where to start with him. I am quite sure I remember everything that happened in vivid detail, but what I remember has to be impossible, everything we've ever learnt supports that fact. This is something I don't understand, and I'm…" she sighed "well I'm scared James. I just don't know what to think." She stopped, frustrated with her distinct lack of coherent speech.

James took this opportunity to answer as well as he could "I don't understand it either, I've been trying not to dwell on it, I think it best that we wait, it's not safe here. I spoke to Dumbledore this morning and he reaffirmed my feelings in this matter, there are simply too many wandering ears." He paused, taking a deep breath "Albus also said he would come by later, he is taking us somewhere safe where we can discuss this in privacy, besides which I am sure he will be able to shed some light on this matter." He sighed, giving Lily a quick hug "I know its difficult love, but now is not the time"

Lily nodded slowly and closed her eyes, tiredly resting her hand on her stomach, as if to ground herself, she succeeded somewhat especially when, some moments later James lay his hand on top of hers.

After sitting for many moments in relative silence James randomly blurted out "If it's a boy can we name it Hezakiah?"

"James" Lily said reproachfully as she lifted one eye open "you are not naming my baby Hezakiah." Lily remembered this aspect of her husband's character _very_ well from when she was pregnant with Harry, her husband apparently had quite a love for obscure names, and more often than not they began with the letter H for some unknown reason. She did love this particular quirk in her husband, though she did begin to get exasperated with it last time as James came up with more new names at absurd times, each as outrageous as the last. Hopefully she could once again strike a compromise like she did last time, though it was this same compromise that led to her latest pregnancy… so perhaps not. 'Oh well' she thought 'I don't really mind…' At which point James interjected "Hypatia?"

… 'Well I don't mind _too _much anyway'.

-----

shamelessly stolen from "the wedding planner" which ironically I also do not own.

No offence intended to anybody who actually has these names, I am personally fond of obscure names and there is no disrespect intended.


End file.
